2 national 12 February 2017

A fire broke out in Thachaung Village in Sittway Township, Ra-khine State, yesterday, destroy-ing four homes and one shop.

The fire caused by negli-gence happened at the house owned by U Zar Ki Yusan at 5.30 pm and engulfed the properties causing loss of K179,000.

The fire was put under con-trolled by firemen and villagers 15 minutes after it started.

U Zar Ki Yusan man-aged to escape and a file is opened on him at the Myo-ma Police Station in Sittway. —Myanmar News Agency

Fire destroys four homes, one shop in Sittway

SecURiTY forces arrested five men in Maungtaw Township on suspicion of involving in the vi-olent attacks in northern Rakh-ine.

Arji Durahman of Kyikan-pyin (Middle) Village, Pharol of Kyikanpyin (South) Vil-lage, Shaungshu Arlaung of Kyikanpyin (West) Village, Mamauk elsad of Kyikanpyin

(Middle) Village and Shunar Hnmyar of Wabeik Village were arrested while they were walking from Kyikanpyin Vil-lage (South) to Kywetapyin Village in Maungtaw Town-ship.

Measures are being tak-en to take action against them in accordance with the law. —Myanmar News Agency

Five suspects arrested in Maungtaw

Over 1,000 tonnes of illegal timbers seized in Yangon during past three weeksOVeR 1,000 tonnes of illegal timbers were seized in Yangon during the past three weeks. The suspects have been charged, said a forestry department official.

Over 30 tonnes illegal teak were seized from inside the two containers at MiP yard, Yangon on 24 January. connected infor-mation has led to the seizure of a total of over 1,000 tonnes of ille-gal timbers as of 8 February.

On 10 February, a com-bined team comprising officers

and staff from the forestry de-partment searched a house at the corner of Weatma Sut Wun Htauk and Seinta Kyaw Thu U Aw streets, ward 144, South Da-gon Myothit and seized Padauk square logs weighing over 100 tonnes, sawn teak weighing 15 tonnes, eight ccTV, three chain saws, one motorbike and 10 ac-cessories which were covered by empty water bottles and card boxes.

On the same day, the com-

bined team searched a house at No. 35, Pyin Si Minthagyi road, east Dagon Myothit and found illegal Padought square logs weighing over 50 tonnes.

“Our combined team in-terrogated those suspected, and this has led us to seize other timbers in Mingladon, Shwepyi-tha, Hlaingthaya townships. The regional government also helps us. We seized the illegal timbers at South Dagon and east Dagon on 10 February when the public informed us,” said U Thein Toe, director.

Forestry department seized teak logs weighing over 60 tonnes, Padauk weighing over 954 tonnes, Tanmalan weighing 25 tonnes, Kokko weighing over 5 tonnes, a total of 37 containers and six 10-wheel vehicles worth over Ks 3,000 million .

“We seized a big volume of illegal timbers in Yangon. it means there are many illegal tim-ber extractions in other regions. Authorities should take deterrent action against those involved in illegal timber extraction so that we can prevent deforestation.

The forestry department is conducting more awareness courses concerning the forest de-pletion.—Tayar

STATe and Region Hluttaw staff who are under the legisla-tive pillar are the staff of the Gen-eral Administration Department under the Ministry of Home Af-fairs. So, State and Region Hlut-taw staff should be separated from the General Administra-tion Department as these of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, Pyithu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hluttaw, said a Kachin state Hluttaw rep-resentative.

“Fourteen States and Re-gions Hluttaw staff including those from Kachin State are now under the form the Gener-

al Administration Department. So, we are making effort to separate the Hluttaw staff from the General Administration Department in terms of organ-izational structure and budget. We have asked the all the Hlut-taw staff if they want to work for Hluttaw or General Admin-istration Department,” said an advocate general from Kachin State government.

This kind of effort has al-ready been make during the ten-ure of the first Pyithu Hluttaw but the effort came to in avail. —Salai Mang Ngai

State and Region Hluttaw staff expected to be separated from GA Department

THe 70th anniversary of Union Day ceremony (Panglong) and the Panglong Peace Talk pro-gramme in which the State coun-sellor and ethnic people will participate in Panglong, Shan State will be broadcast live on MRTV, Myanmar Radio MRTV Facebook Page, MiTV, MNTV, Up To Date and indigenous races channels and the Myanmar State counsellor Office’s Facebook Page starting at 9:15am today.

The Panglong Peace Talk

will take place under a banyan tree, the same place where Gen-eral Aung San read a book while he was attending the original Panglong conference. Fami-ly members of the leaders who signed the Panglong Agreement, including State counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, will attend the 70th anniversary of Union Day ceremony, according to the State counsellor Office’s infor-mation committee.—Myanmar News Agency

70th anniversary Union Day ceremony and Panglong peace talk to be broadcast live today

Firemen and villagers are working to control the fire. Photo: MNA

Five suspects are seen at the Police Station. Photo: MNAAuthorities inspect seized illegal timbers. Photo: tAyAr

12 February 20174 LocaL News

Mandalay-Muse Road link-ing Mandalay, the second capital city of Myanmar, and Muse located on Myanmar-China border plays a pivotal role in border trade between the two countries. The road was once notorious for its poor condi-tion coupled with the then thriv-ing insurgency. But nowadays, the situation has changed a lot as the country is moving towards a new society. Tens of thousands of small and large vehicles are plying daily on the road carrying passen-gers and goods. as the trade route contributes much to the country’s development, maintenance of the road, abiding by the traffic rules of drivers of various kinds of ve-hicles, supervision of local author-ities as well as the participation of local people become important.

In the past the road saw lorries each weighing 3 tons carrying just 3 tons of loads. Today, truck tech-nology has increased unbelieva-bly. a long truck can carry a large amount of weights on it. Moreover, its power is so great that it can eas-ily destroy the surface of the road, but it cannot be said that damage on the road is the vehicle’s fault. Its duty is to carry cargos from one place to another. The road itself must and can bear the loads on it. Here arises a question: Who will make the road good? To know the situation occurred on the road, we, news hunters, managed a trip from Mandalay to Muse.

The trip was quite interesting. We started our trip from Mandalay on one early morning of January this year, and when we reached the detour of Pyin Oo lwin, it was dawn. The detour is twenty kilom-eters long and it is an asphalt road. a huge truck with a heavy cargo can run on the road smoothly and safely. We learnt that the Oriental Highway Company is responsible for maintenance and durability of the road. We left the road section behind, moved towards and made a stopover at naungkion Toll Gate before reaching Gotetwin which is infamous for car jam. The gate is located at the top of the Gotetwin valley and run by the company. at the gate a huge led billboard is erected to provide traffic infor-mation to drivers. It is written in Myanmar language which reads “In this moment, vehicles can pass through Gotetwin valley conven-iently.” The information is invalua-ble for drivers because if someone goes down into the valley without knowing the situation in it and sees traffic jam, it is difficult for both up- and down-traffic drivers.

Road to MuseWith the aim of avoiding traffic accident, convex traffic mirrors are set up now by the road side at Gotetwin. When we reached the bottom of the valley, we met traffic police sergeant named Myo Thant swe who leads a team to supervise the traffic flow there, and made an interview with him. He said, “Sometimes we meet traffic jam at Gotetwin due to indiscriminate driving and sometimes due to unfit vehicles. These days the number of trucks plying on the road has increased dramatically and thus if a car breaks down at Gotetwin, it takes at least three hours to ease the traffic jam. Our team has to discharge our duty shift by shift.

at night or in day time, whether the weather is good or bad we are always stand by to ease the traffic. If the work load is too heavy for us to handle, we seek help from mem-bers of Myanmar Police Force and staff of the Oriental Highway Company. I opine that not to cause traffic jam, the cars need to be fit and the drivers need to be skilled plus following the traffic rules.” It was very encouraging to see traffic police at such a place where traffic jams are very common.

The journey from Gotetwin to Kutkai seemed quite boring because we did not see any traffic jam on the road or any other inter-esting events till we reached Kut-

kai. But we saw very encouraging view on that trip. It was on the road section at lashio detour. The road is as smooth as silk like Pyin Oo lwin detour. In the past it was a dream for us to see a such good road on a rough terrain but thanks to the efforts made by the authority and the company people can travel smoothly on that road.

after our car passing through Kutkai and not very long we start-ed to climb the shukintha (View Point) Mountain Range. as there are many curves on the road in that area, it is very difficult for large vehicles to pass through. Only skilled drivers can steer their huge vehicles with excellent condition

The following is the opinions of some people we met in Muse:U Htay Lwin, leader of Agent team, Muse

“The demand of sugar and rice in China became high and traders eye to export their goods dumped in warehouse of the plain area of Myanmar. In addition to these goods, such item as fruits, maize and other goods are export-ed to China in this season. as a result the number of trucks plying on Mandalay-Muse road increased and traffic jams follow. To ease the traffic and to increase the income of the nation, all the staff at 105th Mile Border Trade Zone are trying their best to clear the goods. all the members of traffic police, Myan-mar Police Force and soldiers from Myanmar army including staff from the Oriental Highway Com-pany give their helping hands to convenient flow of goods.”U Ye Soe Aung, driver from Mandalay

“sometimes we have to wait for at least two or more days to pass through the checkpoint. This time I’m lucky because I had to queue for just two days. now is an open season and the demand is high and most want to come to border with China. some drivers who have never been to Pyin Oo lwin try to reach Muse. lack of experience they ignorantly cause traffic jam. sometimes the road is blocked due to breakdown of cars, sometimes due to undisciplined drivers and sometimes due to accident. I have many experience on this northern highway as I have started my ca-reer since my salary was just 100 kyat. In the past, the road condition was too bad but now it has devel-oped significantly, but the road is needed to upgrade to meet the standard of the current age.U Kaung San Lin, Lashio Dis-trict Administrator

“The union Road from Mandalay to Muse is sometimes blocked due to various reasons. es-pecially accidents, car breakdowns, damages of roads and indiscrim-inate driving cause road blocks. When the road is blocked staff of the Oriental Highway Compa-ny rush to the scene to ease the traffic jam using cranes, excavators and loaders. now, the company is engaging in paving asphalt on the road section at shukintha area. Moreover, actions are needed to be taken against indiscriminate drivers and unauthorized vehicles and mobile traffic police team is needed to be set up to take such action.”

Road section at shukintha area is paved with asphalt. (Photo: Myo Aung- ohC)

RaKHIne traditional car-riage pulling festival in Maungtaw, Rakhine state, has attracted local people on Friday night.

at the festival, artistees performed traditional group dances and songs.

among the spectators were u Zaw Myint Pe, sec-retary of the Investigation Commission on Maungtaw.

local Rakhine people has taken pride in holding such kind of traditional festi-val, said Ma Khin Khin aye.

Peoples of wards and villages pull the carriage as competition by shouting cho-rus songs. It is a traditional festival of Rakhine people with the aim of boosting pro-duction of crops.–Maung Po Zaw (MNA)

Rakhine traditional carriage pulling festival attracts people in Maungtaw

Khet Zan

artistees entertain the audience with group dance. Photo: Pho ZAw (MnA)

tRaveLogue

to pass these curves. The driver is skilled but the condition of the ve-hicle is not up to the mark, it is sure that the car would break down on the road and the traffic be blocked. If the condition of the car is good but the driver is not skilled it is sure that his car would plummet into a deep ravine.

But, it is very encouraging to see that heavy machineries of the Oriental Highway Company are at work to expand the road. We also learnt from the staff of the compa-ny who said that they have a plan to lay asphalt on the road. an-other encouraging scene was that a soldier from the security force helped drivers to move their cars properly. Besides his security duty, the young soldier, under the cold, windy night of shan state hold-ing his gun on his back ushered the vehicles to a convenient path. Through his ushering, the vehi-cle could move slowly but safely.

drivers are also praiseworthy be-cause they are too patient to wait their turn to move ahead. Without their efforts, the exported goods could not reach their destination and so do the imported goods.

When we reached Muse it was 9 p.m. Before, reaching Muse, we saw a long queue of heavy trucks. They were waiting to enter the checkpoint for their cargoes to be checked before exporting to China. The night fell but the driv-ers cannot sleep as they are waiting for their turn to pass through the checkpoint. as for us we put up at Muse Motel and took a good rest.

When I saw the smooth road throughout the trip my mind went back around 1993 when I attended Korean language Class at Inter-national Foreign languages (now university of Foreign languages) in yangon. Our Korean lecturer said, “When I was young our coun-try (ROK) was under the reign of

President Park Chung Hee. The government appointed strong men to build the country which arose from the ash of war. First, the government built a highway from seoul to Busan stretching from the north to south. Then, it connected power lines across the country. Thanks to building of a highway from the north to south the areas from east and west parts along the highway saw development. and thanks to the power lines which are important for industrial develop-ment, the industrial sector has seen rapid progress.”

That is right. We should fol-low the example shown by our Ko-rean friends. The more roads are built, the better for goods transpor-tation. Government alone cannot fulfill the needs of the country. All are to participate in nation-build-ing endeavours. avoiding pointing accusing fingers at each other we must try our best.

512 February 2017

LocaL

The price of fish paste has doubled in Bago Region within three years because of the scar-city of small fish, according to fish paste brokerages.

The small fish from lakes, rivers and creeks are becoming scarce because of the increase in the manufacture of dried, pickled fish and high demand from feed manufacturing fac-tories. Therefore, the small fish used as the raw material for making fish paste are becoming less plentiful and more expen-sive in the local market.

In 2014, the price of small fish paste was about Ks 500 per viss and the big fish paste was Ks 1,000 per viss. Currently, the price of small fish paste has

increased to Ks 1,000 per viss and big fish pastes fetches Ks 2,000 per viss.

“The small fish are becom-ing rare year by year. We have stored the raw materials for two years to manufacture the fish paste. Last year, we bought 2,000 viss of small fish. Now, we can buy only 500 viss. We cannot collect the raw materi-als to make fish paste as much as we want,” said U Myo Aye, a fish paste broker from Waw town.

There are many kinds of fish pastes. The fish pastes are made of striped dwarf catfish, a variety of gourami and fish larvae.— Myitmakha News Agency

ONLy about 200,000 duck eggs are currently entering the local market daily, said Ko Hla Win, a duck breeder. The reason is that duck breeders in Ayeyawady Region have stopped allowing ducks into the fields for feeding because the summer paddies being cul-tivated in the field use chemical fertilizer.

Currently, the egg depots receive 200,000 duck eggs, down from 500,000 in previous weeks. To fill the gap, Thailand exports about 300,000 duck eggs to Myanmar every day. In the Ayeyawady Region, the main source for eggs, the ducks are not bred on a commercial

scale, only on a small, manage-able scale.

“If we release the ducks into the fields, the ducks can eat natural food. But now we are worried about them feed-ing on the fertilizer and dy-ing. Without natural food, the ducks do not produce as many eggs,” said Ko Hla Win.

The duck eggs are dis-tributed to local markets in Bogalay, Pyapon, Mawgyun, Myaungmya, Kyaiklatt and Dedaye townships.

A 17kg duck egg fetches Ks100 while a 19kg egg can get Ks110 or Ks120. The pric-es also vary depending on the township. — 200

The price of fish paste doubles in Bago

Production of duck eggs decrease for lack of safe pasture

The rumour of a special goods tax levied on imported cars is spreading around the automo-bile market, resulting in car price hikes of up to Ks1million, said car dealers from the automobile market in Hlaing Township.

There is no official an-nouncement concerning the spe-cial goods tax on imported cars yet, but the rumour nevertheless

drove prices up. The Cost, Insurance and

Freight (CIF) values for imported automobiles with engines below 1350cc were set at US$5,000. However, those cars are needed to import with the slip, which could turn into an uneconomical deal for the importers, said a car broker.

The price of slip returned

on deregistration of old cars was likely to decline. However, a widespread rumour in the au-tomobile market predicts that a special goods tax will be levied on imported cars starting in April led the car price to surge, which made the slip price increase by Ks400,000 to 500,000. As a result of this, the car prices began an up-ward trend, it is learnt.—Ko Htet

Rumour of special goods tax for automobile market prompts car price rise

A rubber-testing laboratory in Hlegu Township is expected to receive global accreditation, ena-bling it to issue recommendations on rubber based on international standards, ensuring quality assur-ance, it is learnt from the Myan-mar Rubber Planters and Produc-ers Association.

Concerted efforts are be-ing exerted for this laboratory to meet international criteria and get global accreditation with the as-sistance from Japan starting from 2015.

The local association hopes that International Rubber Asso-ciation (IRA) will grant approval to the laboratory, showing that it meets international standards.

After the inspection by the IRA, the Myanmar Rubber Plant-ers and Producers Association is trying to fulfil the requirements pointed out by the IRA. Samples of rubber will also be sent to rub-ber-buying countries and to labo-ratories which have been already approved by IRA to test the qual-ity.

After that, the results from international laboratories will be compared with that from the Hlegu rubber testing laboratory. If results are similar, Hlegu rub-ber testing laboratory will be ap-proved by IRA.

Myanmar’s rubber price will be offered at a higher price in keeping with international mar-ket prices after this laboratory has achieved global accreditation, said U Khaing Myint, the secre-tary of Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producers Association.—200

Rubber testing laboratory in Hlegu expected to get global accreditation

A three-storey fruit and veg-etable wholesale market will be built on a 14.59-acre plot of land as the first phase and 30-acre plot of land as the second phase at Nge Toe village, Field No. 616, beside Sagaing-Man-dalay road. The project will be completed in 2018, it is learnt.

The market will be joint-ly constructed by Shwe Moe Group Company and Mandalay fruit and vegetable depots. The market will be built with the aim of developing the city of Mandalay and reducing traffic problems caused by the fruit and vegetable street vendors. Anoth-er aim is to control the prices in the fruit and vegetable mar-

ket. Shwe Moe Company has been conducting soil tests and measuring the land since Janu-ary. The market will have 100 apartments measuring 20 feet in length, 40 feet in diameter and nine feet in height. Estimated cost of the project is Ks45 bil-lion.

The wholesale market will have a proper sewage system us-ing advanced technology.

Upon completion, the mar-ket will be a modern marketplace for consumers, local traders and exporters and will reduce trans-portation costs. The wholesale market does not allow custom-ers and traders to stay overnight. — Myanmar Alin

Three-storey fruit & vegetable wholesale market to be built in Amarapura

Cars are crawling on a busy road in downtown Yangon. Photo: Phoe Khwar

The chili grown in Rakhine state will be exported to Sri Lanka be-ginning this year, according to the Rakhine branch of the Myan-mar Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Producers and Exporters Associ-ation (MFVO).

An official from MFVO has announced a test run to export up to 8,000 tonnes of chili to Sri

Lanka. A price will be fixed after calculating the street price and transportation costs.

“Sri Lanka has offered us to export Rakhine chili because Ra-khine chili has a lower percent-age of pesticide residues. We will export chili to Sri Lanka starting this winter,” said a Rakhine chili exporter.

Sri Lanka will become the first international market for Rakhine chili. Rakhine chili exporters are also planning to export the Rakhine chili to In-dia.

The Rakhine chili grows in all three seasons and is mostly grown in Kyauktaw, Mrauk U and Minbya.—Min Min

Rakhine chili to be exported to Sri Lanka